lnemail

name	lnemail
description	Setup and use anonymous email accounts on LNemail.net using Bitcoin Lightning payments. Use when agents need email capabilities for 2FA, notifications, or communication without KYC or personal information.

LNemail

Anonymous email accounts via Lightning Network. No KYC, no email required to sign up—just pay with Bitcoin.

Overview

LNemail provides fully functional email addresses for 1000 sats/year. Perfect for agents needing:

• 2FA code reception
• Anonymous communication
• Bitcoin/Lightning service notifications
• API-accessible email without identity requirements

Quick Start

1. Create Email Account

Create a Lightning invoice for email account creation:

# Create the account (returns payment hash)
curl -X POST https://lnemail.net/api/v1/email

# Response:
# {
#   "payment_hash": "abc123...",
#   "amount": 1000,
#   "currency": "SATS"
# }

2. Pay with Lightning

# Get the invoice from payment status endpoint
curl -X GET https://lnemail.net/api/v1/payment/PAYMENT_HASH

# Response when pending:
# {
#   "payment_hash": "abc123...",
#   "status": "pending",
#   "lightning_invoice": "lnbc10u1pj..."
# }

Pay the BOLT11 lightning_invoice using any Bitcoin Lightning Network wallet (e.g., Alby CLI):

npx @getalby/cli -c ~/.alby-cli/connection-secret.key pay-invoice \
  -i "lnbc10u1pj..."

3. Retrieve Credentials

After payment confirms (~seconds), check status again:

curl -X GET https://lnemail.net/api/v1/payment/PAYMENT_HASH

# Response when paid:
# {
#   "payment_hash": "abc123...",
#   "status": "paid",
#   "email": "[e-mail]",
#   "access_token": "lne_K3M9X-2H7P4-NQR8T-VWY5F-XJZ6B"
# }

Save these credentials! Store them securely (e.g., ~/.lnemail/credentials.json). The access token is a Crockford Base32 string with the lne_ prefix and is case-insensitive: dashes, surrounding whitespace, and ambiguous characters (O/0, I/L/1) are normalized server-side.

Using Your Email

Check Inbox

curl -X GET https://lnemail.net/api/v1/emails \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN"

# Response:
# {
#   "emails": [
#     {
#       "id": "msg_123",
#       "sender": "[e-mail]",
#       "recipient": "[e-mail]",
#       "subject": "Your 2FA Code",
#       "date": "Mon, 15 Jan 2024 10:30:00 +0000",
#       "read": false
#     }
#   ]
# }

Append a tag to the local part, such as [e-mail], to receive tagged mail in the base account inbox. The recipient field preserves the tagged delivery address when the mailserver provides it.

Read Email Content

curl -X GET https://lnemail.net/api/v1/emails/EMAIL_ID \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN"

# Response:
# {
#   "id": "msg_123",
#   "sender": "[e-mail]",
#   "recipient": "[e-mail]",
#   "subject": "Your 2FA Code",
#   "body": "Your verification code is: 123456",
#   "body_plain": "Your verification code is: 123456",
#   "body_html": null,
#   "content_type": "text/plain",
#   "attachments": [],
#   "date": "Mon, 15 Jan 2024 10:30:00 +0000",
#   "read": true
# }

Send Email

Sending requires a Lightning payment (~100 sats per email):

# Create send request (Content-Type header is required!)
curl -X POST https://lnemail.net/api/v1/email/send \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "recipient": "[e-mail]",
    "subject": "Hello",
    "body": "Message content here"
  }'

# Response:
# {
#   "payment_hash": "def456...",
#   "amount": 100,
#   "currency": "SATS"
# }

Pay the invoice, then check status:

# Get the BOLT11 invoice to pay
curl -X GET https://lnemail.net/api/v1/email/send/status/PAYMENT_HASH

# Response when pending:
# {
#   "payment_hash": "def456...",
#   "status": "pending",
#   "payment_request": "lnbc1u1p..."
# }

# Pay the invoice
npx @getalby/cli -c ~/.alby-cli/connection-secret.key pay-invoice \
  -i "lnbc1u1p..."

# Check again after payment:
# {
#   "payment_hash": "def456...",
#   "status": "paid",
#   "message_id": "msg_sent_789"
# }

Rate Limits

Important: LNemail enforces rate limits on sending:

Limit	Value
Max emails per 15 minutes	5
Max emails per hour	~20

Exceeding these limits will result in failed sends (sats are not charged for rate-limited requests). Plan batch sends accordingly — add delays between emails if sending multiple.

API Reference

Endpoint	Method	Auth	Description
/api/v1/email	POST	No	Create account (returns payment hash)
/api/v1/payment/{hash}	GET	No	Check account payment status
/api/v1/emails	GET	Bearer	List inbox messages
/api/v1/emails/{id}	GET	Bearer	Get message content
/api/v1/email/send	POST	Bearer	Create send request (returns payment hash)
/api/v1/email/send/status/{hash}	GET	No	Check send payment status + get invoice
/api/v1/email/{hash}/new-invoice	POST	No	Re-issue the signup invoice from a different provider
/api/v1/email/send/{hash}/new-invoice	POST	Bearer	Re-issue a send invoice from a different provider
/api/v1/account/renew/{hash}/new-invoice	POST	Bearer	Re-issue a renewal invoice from a different provider

Required headers for POST requests:

• Content-Type: application/json
• Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN (where auth is required)

Storage Recommendation

Store credentials in ~/.lnemail/credentials.json:

{
  "email": "[e-mail]",
  "access_token": "lne_K3M9X-2H7P4-NQR8T-VWY5F-XJZ6B"
}

Note: The access_token is the only credential needed for ongoing operations. The payment_hash is only used during initial setup to check payment status — once you have the access_token, it can be discarded.

Pricing

Service	Cost
Email account (1 year)	1000 sats
Send email	~100 sats
Receive email	Free

Limitations

• Plain text only (HTML stripped)
• Small attachment support
• 100 sats per outgoing email
• Account valid for 1 year from payment
• Rate limited: max 5 sends per 15 minutes

Tips for Agents

• Always check send status after paying the invoice — the payment confirmation is separate from the email being sent
• Store credentials immediately after account creation — there's no password recovery
• Budget for replies: If using lnemail for agent-to-agent communication, remember both sides pay to send (100 sats each)
• Gmail/SMTP emails may also arrive in your inbox from external senders at no cost to you — only outbound costs sats

Use Cases

• 2FA reception: Reliable email delivery for verification codes
• Service notifications: Bitcoin/Lightning service alerts
• Anonymous signup: Services requiring email without identity link
• Agent-to-agent comms: Programmatic email between agents
• Bug bounties & outreach: Contact projects/people without revealing identity

References

• LNemail: https://lnemail.net
• API Docs: https://lnemail.net (see homepage for full docs)
• Auth: Bearer token in Authorization header